The Ultimate Dollar Store Deal: How Accurate is a $1 Marijuana Drug Test?

Last week I attended a women's networking event co-hosted by Leafly. Amid the autum-themed food spread and the decorative gourds were two marijuana drug test boxes that had been purchased at a dollar store near the University of Washington campus and were being displayed quite cheekily considering we were all attending a cannabis industry mixer. I wanted to perform a little experiment to see how accurate (if at all) these dollar store gems were, so Leafly kindly let me take both tests home so I could try them out.

I was curious to see if this “Made in Mexico” test would be accurate and easy to use. As a medicinal cannabis patient, I knew I should test positive for THC. However, I needed a "control" group so I wanted take one test myself and use the other test on somebody who I knew would not have THC in his or her system (which would negate the possibility of the test defaulting to "positive" as a gag regardless of whether or not the subject is a cannabis consumer).

The typo on the back of the box did not exactly inspire confidence.

Believe it or not, it turns out few people will volunteer to pee in a cup, even for “science.” I had to hunt a little but eventually I found the perfect candidate. My test subject was a new mom who has not consumed cannabis in years and was guaranteed to have no THC in her system.

I opened the box to find it only contained one simple little stick. You have to supply your own container to collect the urine like some sort of savage. A dollar won't even get you a plastic container? Lame. The directions are printed on the inside of the box and while the pictures look different than the stick that was supplied, it was easy enough to figure out how to use it as directed.

The entire test in all its dollar store glory.

As expected, my test was positive, an outcome I hoped for (the irony of taking a drug test and hoping it would be positive was not lost on me). My friend’s test was invalid, making it a negative result.

This little test seems to detect THC in your urine but may read invalid or inconclusive when there is no THC in the urine. Overall, I think the At Home Drug Test Marijuana (the title really rolls off the tongue) is a total bargain if you happen to need to know this kind of information in 5 minutes, or if you're bored on a Friday night and aren't above urinating in a glass for entertainment's sake.

Thank you to Leafly for facilitating this totally scientific experiment!